Chapter Six
Stealing a gold noble from a greedy fish seller was easy enough. Elena protested of course, but I pointed out that the noble would be going to a better cause than buying old fish to sell at a higher price to lazy people who wouldn't go out and gather food for themselves.
"And what cause is that?" she asked, one hand on her hip.
"The cause of buying us a warm place to sleep tonight," I replied with a wink. I pulled her through the crowded marketplace towards an inn and tavern called the Black Swan. Surely in accordance with the unspoken code of Black, the inn would be friendly to a marooned pirate and her friend.
The code of Black was more tradition than anything, a set of rules for the disreputable thieves of the realm. It was enough, along with the noble, to buy an overheated room on the second floor overlooking the market. I threw open the window to allay the heat and then promptly shut it, deciding the heat was better than the smell. Elena collapsed happily on the bed, a small smile on her face at the comfort. I turned from the window to her, and drew my rapier with a flourish.
"It's much too late to kill me, now," Elena said with her eyes closed.
"Let's cut your hair," I replied. Her eyes popped open and hands shot up to her beautiful hair as if to save it from the wrath of my sword.
"Never," she responded, running slender fingers through tawny tresses.
Her hair would be the death of me. Either that, or the rapier in my hands.
"Lads don't have manes like that," I reasoned, sinking down onto the mattress beside her. "Besides, it'll grow back."
"You expect me to wear mine short like yours?" she asked, reaching out and twisting a ringlet of mine around her finger. "I don't think I'll look half as dashing as you do."
I rolled onto my side with a grimace at the pain in my arm. "Fine. Leave it be," I acquiesced, sharply. The pain was too much to continue our witty dance. She saw in my face my discomfort and sat up, pushing me down onto my back.
"I need to redress this," she motioned for me to raise my hands, and pulled my ruined shirt up over my head, discarding it on the floor beside the bed. The bandage was soaked through with blood, and smarted to the touch. "I'm going to get clean water."
I laid back on the bed awaiting her return, staring up at the low ceiling without seeing it. Although she hadn't said it, I could tell that she was wary to turn me in for the reward. I was confident of my ability to escape the prisons, but still as always it was a risk, and if I could not escape I would surely be hanged, and Elena left without anyone in the world. It was a wonder she hadn't broken down in tears yet at the shambles of her life. I hoped to keep her too busy to cry, tears on any woman's face the last thing I wanted to see.
Elena came back a while later followed by two men who balanced a tub of water between them. I sat up in shock, wondering how she had procured such a treat. She instructed them to set it down and promised to pay them handsomely come dinner time. I smirked to see her work her charms.
"Get in," she motioned towards the tub. I frowned.
"I'm much too big for that," I protested, already feeling stupid. She pulled off my boots and pants, instructing me to use the water for my arm first and then myself.
"You know as well as I do it's important to be clean," she fussed about as I stood in the lukewarm water filled tub. At least it was too hot in our room for the cold water to be uncomfortable. I washed the sand and soap from my body, silently thankful to be clean once more. Elena followed suit after me, falling naked into the bed once again beside me, drying in the sweltering heat of the afternoon. "Let your arm breathe," she instructed. I obeyed the good doctors orders in silence, turning to press my lips to hers.
"Are you ready to turn me in?" I asked her, the first time I had broached the subject since we had discovered the Fortuna at the docks. "We should do it tonight."
"Why tonight?" she asked, avoiding my principle question.
"Because tomorrow my crew will hang, and me along with them if we can't escape," I said, trying to sound nonchalant. The idea of death was not a new or foreign one to me, but I could see from the look of fear in Elena's eyes that she trusted little in my abilities to escape prison.
"I'm not going to turn you in," she said firmly, resolute in her decision not to betray me, even if it was only momentarily, and for the money. "If you die, I-" she paused, her breath catching in her chest. She couldn't finish without tears coming to her eyes. "I don't know what I'll do, Ridolpha."
I turned to her with a lazy smile, trailing the contours of her naked body with my good arm's hand. "You'll find another rich husband, marry him, and forget all about me," I drawled, half joking. She looked mildlyannoyed by my suggestion.
"No, I couldn't," she disagreed, firmly, her golden green eyes glinting in the sunlight.
"You won't be as sad as you think to see me go," I reminded her of Tarsus and what I had done to her home. Elena looked away then, and I realized that she was thinking of a way to respond.
"I don't care about that anymore," she finally told me, her face full of senscerity. "I think I'm in love with you, Ridolpha," she nearly whispered. I studied her face for half a moment before retreating from the conversation in fear.
I let out a lung full of laughter. "It's the way I fuck that you'll miss most," I smiled, although the smile didn't reach my eyes. "I would turn myself in but then who would receive the gold?"
Elena looked hurt that I had laughed at her profession of love and reduced our relationship to merely the physical in one word, but she nodded silently.
"We need to find out how many survived, and who's loyal enough to gold to fight with us," I planned aloud, sitting up and pulling my shirt back over my head. It smelled of sweat and stale ocean water. "We need new clothes," I grimaced, looking out the window thoughtfully. It was easy to hear the calls of merchants in the streets below, selling their jewelry and gems, fine fabrics and leather, their weapons, and their fish. "I'm going to go out," I decided after a moment's pause, still not meeting her eyes, too scared to see what was hidden in them. I buttoned my pants quickly, sliding back into my boots. "Stay here."
Elena didnt respond except to roll over in the bed and turn away from me, the stormy expression written on her face a telling one. She was angry, that much was evident. I clutched my arm, hoping I wouldn't have to suffer another injury in the wake of her wrath.
I closed the door behind me with a thud and left the stuffy tavern with a nod to the innkeeper, who seemed too preoccupied to worry about my comings and goings. Stealing clothes proved to be just as easy as stealing gold had been, considering the hustle and bustle of the marketplace. It was a wonder merchants didn't loose more money then they made.
Reselling the package of shirts I'd snatched was easy enough, and before long I had a pocket full of gold, two silver bracelets and a good idea of where to find my captured crew. I walked passed the city keep slowly, counting the men on the battlements and patrols who guarded the front gate. There were seventeen men that I could see, not including those who kept watch inside. Perhaps freeing my crew was going to be more of a challenge then I anticipated. I turned from the keep and quickly picked through the crowds, immersing myself in the marketplace once more.
For Elena I bought a dress of fine green fabric, to match her eyes. It was the latest fashion, according to the seamstress who sold it to me, and complete with an uncomfortable looking pair of shoes and a thin white shawl, I was sure Elena would look just as dazzling as she had the night we first met.
For me I bought a simple vest of black and red leather, two men's shirts, one white and one black, complete with frilly lace at the neck and wrists, and the sturdiest pair of britches I could find. I replaced my boots, too, quickly shirking off the waterlogged ones I was wearing in favor of the new pair.
With the packages under one arm and a handful of flowers under the other I pressed back through the marketplace towards the Black Swan. The flowers were a lame excuse for an apology, I knew it, but I hadn't been able to shake the sight of her shock at my laughter from my mind. Elena loved me. Just the thought made my insides quiver. Where was Smythe when I needed him most. He would have told me to wise up and run, leave the damn woman in the tavern and hop the next ship to anywhere. "Love is for maidens and fairytales," I could hear him cursing even now. "No place for it in a pirates heart of stone."
I nodded to the innkeeper on my way up the back stairs.
"Elena, open the door, my arms are full!" I called through the closed door to our room. When no one responded I sighed, throwing open the door with a package balanced under my chin.
The room was empty, Elena was gone.
I dropped the packages and flowers and tore out of the room and back down into the main hall, scanning the rows of tables and chairs for her, praying she hadn't ventured out into the city, alone, dressed like a man, and apparently, with my rapier. "Damn her!" I cursed under my breath when the bar and dining hall seemed to hold no traces of her.
The innkeeper hadn't seen her since we first came, he reported, for another gold noble. I dashed out into the marketplace, looking left and right for her auburn hair. Where had she gone!
For ages I pressed through the crowds in search of her, running first up and then down the market streets and then towards the docks, ducking my head in every bar and tavern along the way. Elena was nowhere to be found, lost in the great expanse of the city of Oporto.
I sank to my knees at the end of the dock, staring out at the ocean in despair. For all I knew she was dead now, lost to a mob of drunken men or kidnapped for a pretty penny by the city guard or stripped of her clothes and tossed into the sea. I hung my head, letting out the tears of anger that had threatened to fall since she had disappeared. Curse that woman, and her sharp tongue and her damn hair. Curse love,I thought.
Two men of the city guard were waiting for me in the tavern. They stood awkwardly beside the innkeeper, who was promising them he had no knowledge of me, despite the obvious drawing of me one of the guards was waving in his face. I slunk passed the altercation and quickly up the back stairs towards my room, ripping open the packages and dressing in my new clothes, hoping that I could save the dress for Elena, if I ever saw her again. I had no idea where she could be, but if she came back here she would find a bouquet of flowers and a beautiful dress awaiting her.
I wanted to leave a note, anything to let her know that I was sorry and never wished to see her go, but the sound of boots on the back stairs left me no option. I climbed over the window sill and dropped to the ground just as the door to my room banged open. I landed in the dirty street with a thud, the seller who's cart I nearly toppled cursing at me at the top of her lungs. The guards were quick to the window and before I had a chance to run, two more of the city guard were upon me.
"Ridolpha De Saviola, youi are under arrest for suspicion of thievery, arson and assault, piracy-" one of the men started to announce before I punched him in the throat, leaving him stunned and writhing on the ground. The other guard was harder to take down, landing a solid punch to my bloodied arm before I could wrap both hands around his neck, holding on for dear life.
It was no use. And entire squadron of men had been dispatched to arrest me it seemed and before long the butt of a cutlass filled my vision, and all went dark.